The Water Beetles

Availability:
Ebook in EPUB format. Available for immediate download after we receive your order

DRM:
Watermark

Publication Year:
2017

ISBN-13: 9780864929679

<p><b>Winner, 2018 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, 2018 McNally Robinson Book of the Year, and 2018 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction<br>Shortlisted, 2017 Governor General's Award for Fiction and 2018 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book<br>A <i>National Post</i> Best Book of 2017<br>A Walter Scott Prize Academy Recommended Historical Novel of 2017<br>On <i>CBC Books'</i> list of writers to watch in 2018</b></p><p>The Leung family leads a life of secluded luxury in Hong Kong. But in December 1941, the Empire of Japan invades the colony. The family is quickly dragged into a spiral of violence, repression, and starvation. To survive, they entomb themselves and their friends in the Leung mansion. But this is only a temporary reprieve, and the Leungs are forced to send their children away.</p> <p>The youngest boy, Chung-Man, escapes with some of his siblings, and together they travel deep into the countryside to avoid the Japanese invaders. Thrown into a new world, Chung-Man befriends a young couple who yearn to break free of their rural life. But their friendship ends when the Japanese arrive, and Chung-Man is once again taken captive. Unwittingly and willingly, he enters a new cycle of violence and punishment, until he finally breaks free from his captors and returns to Hong Kong.</p> <p>Deeply scarred, Chung-Man drifts along respectfully and dutifully, enveloped by the unspoken vestiges of war. It is only as he leaves home once again &#8212; this time for university in America &#8212; that he finally glimpses a way to keep living with his troubled and divided self.</p> <p>Written in restrained, yet beautiful and affecting prose, <i>The Water Beetles</i> is an engrossing story of adventure and survival. Based loosely on the diaries and stories of the author&#39;s father, this mesmerizing story captures the horror of war, through the eyes of a child, with unsettling and unerring grace.</p>